Stem Cells - What Are They? (cont.)

Embryonic stem cells

During the early stages of embryonic development, the
cells remain relatively undifferentiated (immature) and appear to possess the
ability to become, or differentiate, into almost any tissue within the body. For
example, cells taken from one section of an embryo that might have become part
of the eye can be transferred into another section of the embryo and could
develop into blood, muscle, nerve, or liver cells.

If one
takes cells from an embryo consisting of fewer than 1000 cells and then transfers some of these cells into a Petri dish, they can be grown indefinitely. These cells are known as "embryonic stem cells."

When embryonic stem cells are grown indefinitely in a Petri dish where they divide again and again, they are known as "embryonic stem cell lines."

It is these embryonic stem cells and embryonic stem cell
lines that have received so much public attention concerning the ethics of their
use or non-use. Clearly, there is hope that a large number of treatment advances
could occur as a result of growing and differentiating these embryonic stem
cells in the laboratory. It is equally clear
that each embryonic stem cell line has been derived from the destruction of an embryo, with all the attendant ethical, religious, and philosophical problems, depending upon one's perspective.

Adult stem cells

Finally,
there are adult stem cells, or committed stem cells. The adult stem cell is one
of the class of cells that we have been able to manipulate quite effectively in
the bone marrow transplant arena over the past 30 years. These are stem cells that are tissue specific. Rather than typically giving rise to all of the cells of the body, these cells are capable of giving rise only to the cells of a specific tissue or organ.

The best characterized example of an adult stem cell is the blood stem cell (the hematopoietic stem cell). When we refer to a bone marrow transplant,
a stem cell transplant, or a blood transplant, the cell being transplanted is the hematopoietic stem cell, or blood stem cell. This cell is a very rare cell that is found primarily within the bone marrow of the adult.

Blood stem cells

The blood stem cell is capable of giving rise to a very
large number of very different cells that make up the blood and immune system, including red blood cells, platelets,
granulocytes, and lymphocytes. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body and
give the blood its color. Platelets are cell fragments that stop a person from
bleeding and help the body to clot and heal when it is cut. Granulocytes are a type of white blood cell that help fight
bacterial infection. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that is part of the immune system, help fight other infections, and also may be involved in protection against cancer. All of these very different cells with very different functions are derived from a common, ancestral, committed hematopoietic, or blood-forming, stem cell.